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THOMAS LEI PER 



By 5. Gordon Smyth. 



THOMAS LEIPER 

/ 

LIEUTENANT OF LIGHT HORSE, 
PATRIOT AND FINANCIER IN THE REVOLUTION; 

AND 
PIONKKR IN THE DKVELOPEIVEENT 

OF 
INDUSTRIES AND INLAND COMMERCE; 

IN 

PENNSYLVANIA. 



BY 

SAMUEL GORDON SMYTH. 



BECORDEB PBINT: CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. 

1900. 



\5^ 



THOMAS LEIPER 



The early annals of the three origi- 
nal counties of Pennsylvania and the 
story of their rapid settlement with 
people drawn by the beneficent princi- 
ples of the "Holy Experiment" from the 
bondage of foreign lands, have always 
presented a ready and fruitful field 
for historical research. 

Under the wise laws and a liberal 
government instituted by the founder 
and Proprietary, whose ideas of relig- 
ious tolerance were the far-reaching 
influence to this end, Philadelphia 
very soon became the most cosmopoli- 
tan city in the New World, and equal- 
ly distinguished for the thrift, progres- 
siveness and intellectuality of her cit- 
zens. 

The light which the pre-Revolution- 
ary newspapers throw upon her his- 
tory shows that in the last days of the 
Colonial era, her merchants, factors, 
traders, shippers and farmers exalted 
Philadelphia, and she thus became the 
wealthiest and most conservative of 
centres, a position unique and pre- 
eminent in her relation to the capitals 
of the neighboring provinces. 

As we scan the fading pages of our 
ancient city press we may learn of the 
genesis of many of the leading fam- 
ilies of these later times, whose found- 
ations of wealth were laid in the hive of 
a relentless industry which character- 
ized the home of their vigorous an- 
cestry. Among those names most fre- 



quently mentioned we come across one 
belonging to an early citizen whose 
prominence and genius have been little 
heard of by this generation. 

Thomas Leiper, for sixty-odd years, 
T\as a useful and influential figure in 
the activities of the last century. He 
found the opportunity while building 
up his own private fortunes to devote 
a great deal of his time, energy and 
capital to the advancement of the 
growing municipality. 

This notable person came from Scot- 
land in 1746, a youth of nineteen, 
and settled in Virginia. He was a 
younger son of Thomas Leiper, a Scot- 
tish patrician, and his wife who was 
Helen Hamilton (of the family of Kipe 
and Stane-House). 

On his father's side the lad was de- 
scended from an ancestor of French 
origin who had come to Scotland, it 
is said, in the court of Mary Stuart, 
•when that beautiful but erratic Queen 
returned to ascend the throne in 1561. 

Though destined by his parents for 
the Kirk, the death of his father and 
the passing of the ancestral estate into 
the possession of an elder brother, di- 
verted the young man from his intend- 
ed career and determined him to rome 
to America. Here he arrived with 
four brothers, in the year above stated. 

While in Virginia, young Leiper be- 
came interested in the tobacco busi- 
ness. He remained in that province 




w 



a, 



Oh 



but a short time and came to Philadel- 
phia a few years prior to the American 
Revolution. Here he established a to- 
bacco warehouse at No. 9 North Water 
street. In 1774 we find that he had 
become a snuff manufacturer and had 
located at No. 274 Market street and by 
this time was known as an extensive 
dealer in snuff and tobacco — those com- 
forting essentials of the Colonial gen- 
tly. 

In a comparatively short period he 
had amassed a fortune, as fortunes 
were then rated, and was reckoned 
among the most astute merchants.. 

Thomas Leiper was the friend of 
Washington, the companion of Jeffer- 
son and the champion of Jackson; a 
zealous and courageous advisor of the 
people in the times in which he lived; 
a strong advocate and supporter of the 
irfant State; a leader of and a master 
among men. He was patriotic, jjopu- 
lar and of the highest respectability. 

America was already in the shadow 
oi the Revolution. The people were 
struggling for the exercise of those un- 
deniable rights and privileges into 
M nich they were born as freemen. In 
the agitations of those questions Thom- 
as Leiper was prominent. He was one 
of the first to* recommend a rupture 
with the mother country, and one of 
the last, afterward, to lay down his 
arms. When he saw that a conflict 
was inevitable he prudently allied him- 
self with the Whig party and fast de- 
veloped into one of the most ardent 
of patriots, sacrificing to the cause his 
energies and fortune. 

On the evening of November "7th, 
1/74, "twenty-eight gentlemen, repre- 
senting the wealth and respectability 
of tne city," met in Carpenter's Hall 
and there organized the First Troop of 
Light-Horse, which became afterward 
known as the First City Troop. At the 
seme time the following officers were 



elected: Andrew Allen, 1st Lieut; 
Samuel Morris, 2d Lieut.; James Mease, 
Cornet; Thomas Leiper, 1st Sergeant; 
Levi Hollingsworth, Quartermaster; 
William Pollard, 1st Corporal, and 
James Hunter, 2d Corporal. 

The subsequent service of the First 
Troop in the war of the Revolution 
was exceptionally valuable. They were 
attached to General Washington's 
staff during that memorable campaign 
in the Jerseys, its members acting as 
bearers of despatches from the Com- 
mander-in-Chief to his generals. The 
Troop participated in the battles of 
Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth. 
At Trenton and Princeton they were 
actively engaged. Thomas Leiper be- 
ing a great personal friend of General 
Mercer, was detailed with five o+her 
lighthorsemen to service on his staff, 
for the purpose of conveying intelli- 
gence. After four weeks duty they 
were relieved, with the thanks of Gen- 
eral Washington. At Princeton, Lei- 
per was by the side of General Mercer 
when he fell pierced by the British 
bullets, and when General Washington 
rode to the front to save the day Sergt. 
Leiper and the troop rallied about 
him. The only cavalry in this engage- 
ment were the twenty-five light horse- 
men of the First Troop. 

While in the vicinity of Princeton, 
acting as escort to the Adjt. General 
of the Army, Col. Joseph Reed; Serg't 
Leiper and his squad of troopers came 
upon a British foraging party, which 
they promptly captured. 

After their tour of duty in the Jer- 
seys was completed the Troop were 
discharged. A personal letter of 
thanks was sent by General Washing- 
ton to Captain Morris, at the time. 

While acting in his capacity as 
Treasurer of the Troop, Thomas Lei- 
per carried the last of the French sub- 
sidies to the Federal troops at York- 



8 



town. As the war continued, Sergt. 
Leiper contributed very largely by his 
own means, and was quite successful 
in raising funds to aid and equip oth- 
er organizations for taking the field. 

In 1778 we find his name enrolled 
upon the active list of the Patriotic 
Association of Philadelphia. 

In 1780 the National Bank of the 
United States of America was organiz- 
ed, for the purpose of supplying pro- 
visions to the army. It was establish- 
ed in Philadelphia and had 92 sub- 
scribers contributing £300,000. Sam- 
uel Morris gave £5000, James Mease 
£6000 and Thomas Leiper £4000, and 
others less amounts. The bank was 
afterward (1782) incorporated as the 
Bank of North America. 

At the close of the war when the 
coTintrj^ began to experience the new 
conditions of self-government, Thom- 
as Leiper was in demand to take office, 
but he generally declined all those of 
emolument or pay. He presided at 
many of the town meetings, and in 
public affairs generally his culture 
and talents gave him a wide influence 
for good. The revival of trade, the 
establishment of enterprises calculat- 
ed to develop the resources of the new 
ration, appealed strongly to his at- 
tention. He stimulated and advanced 
the prosperity of Philadelphia in every 
way. 

Before leaving the subject of his 
military services, we may add that 
when the Whiskey Insurrection broke 
out in the Western part of Pennsyl- 
vania, the First Troop was early in the 
field, and Thomas Leiper went out with 
them as Second Lieutenant. This 
was in 1794. 

Leiper's town residence was on Mar- 
ket street, near Fourth. Here he en- 
tertained hospitably his many ,and of- 
ten distinguished, friends. He was 
a great admirer of Thomas Jeffeison, 



who, it is said, dined either at Lei- 
per's, or Dr. Rush's and would go to 
no other place. 

It was at the house of his friend, 
Thomas Leiper, that Jefferson was 
nominated for the Presidency in 1800. 
M. Leiper, at this time, was president 
ot city councils, an office which he held 
for several years. 

Long after the close of the century 
the tobacco merchant was credited 
with great wealth. He was an exten- 
sive investor in real estate in Phila- 
delphia; he had large estates at Frank- 
ford; he owned the site of Wanamak- 
er's Grand Depot, it is claimed, and 
the new Mansion House Hotel, which 
he erected at the southeast corner of 
ETleventh and Market streets, a site 
now occupied by the Bingham House. 
In company with John Chaloner, John 
Dunlap, John Mease and others, he 
purchased Tinicum Island from Thom- 
as Levis, the agent for Chester coun- 
ty. The tract had been confiscated as 
the property of Joseph Galloway, a 
well-known royalist of Philadelphia, 
who fled to England during the Revo- 
lution. 

Thomas Leiper's name is found 
among the taxables of Nether Provi- 
dence township, Chester county, as 
early as 1779. It was probably on his 
property that Dr. Robert Harris es- 
tablished the powder works with which 
his name was connected during the 
V ar with England. The Colonial rec- 
ords describe them as being located at 
Strathavon, which, we know, was the 
name of Leiper's Chester county pos- 
sessions. 

The tradition is, that by the >ear 
1785, the plantation acquired by Thom- 
/.as Leiper in the townships of Ridley, 
( to many hundreds of acres, enough to>. 
Vspringfield and Providence, amounted^ 
form a continuous strip from the pres- 
ent site of Swarthmore College to the 



9 



Delaware river, approximately, three 
liiiles, and containing farms, mills, 
quarries, etc. In 1785 he erected a 
stone mansion on his beautiful estate 
which he had sometime before named 
"Strathavon," after the ancestral halls 
beyond the sea. He chose for the lo- 
cation of his house a pretty hillside 
which overlooks the picturesque scen- 
ery of Crum Creek. From broad piaz- 
zas, the owner could look out upon 
that forest-clad landscape lying over 
the ravine and clothing the opposite 
slopes in a garb of everlasting beauty. 
Below his dwelling, in a ravine, rush- 
ed the creek over its boulder-strewn 
bed, the whole scene suggesting, shall 
we say? something to the man's mem- 
ory of boyhood's haunts among the 
wild glens and tarns of the old Scotch 
highlands. 

It is interesting to note in this con- 
nection that over the gabled doorway 
of the mansion, its builder has carved 
two tobacco stalks, to symbolize the 
democratic origin of his riches — what 
armiger has nobler blazon! Around 
and about the mansion Leiper planted 
box bushes which he had imported 
from Holland, and the sugar maples 
which shaded his home were brought 
down from the Kaaterskills by his own 
oxen-express on the return from some 
tcbacco-trading expedition to the pa- 
troons of Van Rensselaerwyck. 

In the section of Delaware county 
where Thomas Leiper settled his fam- 
ily certain Revolutionary events have 
occurred, which add their historic in- 
terest to the story of the famous mer- 
chant and of the age in which he lived. 

The great Southern post-road passed 
through the estate. It was traveled 
bj' the British and American armies 
in their manoeuvering for the possession 
o: Philadelphia. The American forces 
retreated through the plantation from 



the fatal field at Brandywine on their 
■way to Darby. 

Below Leiperville, then called Kid- 
ley, stands the old "White Horse Tav- 
ern," where Captain Culin was shot by 
one of his own men, and where Cap- 
tain John Crosby was lured by a Brit- 
ish boat's crew and captured. 

In the angle of the same pike and 
the Leiper railroad, the old homestead 
of John Macllvaine stands in partial 
ruin. This is the house where Gen- 
eral Washington passed the night after 
the disastrous dash down the Brandy- 
wine hills. Peter Hill's mill is near at 
hand from which the Continental sol- 
diers carried off grist and grain to the 
\alue of SOOOacres of Virginia land — 
the price that Congress paid for the 
foray. On the banks of Crum Creek, 
Hugh Lloyd, the son of Richard, of 
Darby, also had a grist mill, which is 
the one mentioned by General Wash- 
i^'gton when he instructed Gen. James 
Potter to scour the country and re- 
move the burr-stones from certain 
mills that would be likely to come 
Vviihin the limits of General Plove's 
rfids. Hugh Lloyd was a delegate to 
the Provincial Committee, which sat 
ai Philadelphia in 1775. 

Thomas Leiper was deeply interest- 
ed in the useful arts and sciences. He 
was the friend and patron of internal 
Iniprovements and to such enterprises 
as turnpikes, waterworks and caa^^ls, 
he is said to have given as much as 
$100,000. He introduced into his fac- 
tories the most recent devices; some 
were the result of his own investiga- 
tions in the realm of mechanics. 

In the development of his Delaware 
county estate, his genius for industrial 
pi ogress is brilliantly displayed and 
his efforts foremostamong the achieve- 
ments of practical science. 

The Crum Creek which flows through 
his plantation has a superior water- 



10 



power which was promptly used by its 
pioprietor. A little way below J^ei- 
per's residence the valley of the creek 
broadens out and forms a small cove. 
Along the shelving banks of the 
stieara and protected by high encir- 
cling hills on the west is a little vil- 
hige that long ago grew up about the 
factories which Mr. Leiper had estab- 
lished there from time to time. He 
christened the colony "Avondale," in 
remembrance of a little hamlet, in one 
of the glens of Scotland. The opera- 
tions at this place consisted of two 
snuff mills, a stone-sawing mill, where 
tiiG huge blocks of rough granite -vere 
brought from the adjacent quarries, 
and converted into curbing and coping. 
Higher up the stream was the .^rrist 
mill, later transformed into a blade 
factory; all were propelled by the cur- 
rent. The farm laid the water-power 
under tribute to do the threshing and 
cider making and the churning for the 
dairy. Such were the first industries of 
Avondale. To-day, the visitor to the 
ancient place will find one of the two 
snuft' mills used for a dwelling and 
the other a ruin. Yarn spinning suc- 
ceeded snuff-making and more dwell- 
ings were needed. 

1 he building is standing — a dwell- 
i-':;g now — beneath whose massive arch- 
es the first practical attempt was made 
to saw stone by artificial appliances. 
The operation was long ago abandoned 
but the principle still lives in the 
methods now employed by stone-cut- 
tinj; concerns. 

• The surrounding hills produced the 
nest valuable and permanent of the 
resources of the great Leiper estate. 
The quarries yielded unlimited quan- 
tilies of excellent building stone, which 
was then, and has ever since contin- 
ued to be, in demand. Some of the 
quarries were opened on Crum Creek 
iTi 1740, long before Thomas Leiper be- 



came their owner and material from 
them entered into the construction of 
the most substantial houses of Phila- 
delphia. 

It is in connection with the develop- 
ment of these quarries that the n^me 
of Thomas Leiper stands out in lu.nin- 
ous characters upon the pages of his- 
tciy as the pioneer and champion of 
inland transportation. 

Out of his own vast fortune ne found- 
ed the Leiper railway and the Leiper 
canal — lines of water and rail com- 
niimication which improved and facil- 
itated the transportation of the coun- 
try and gave it its first impulse toward 
ai; immeasurable destiny. 

The last years of Thomas Leiper'slife 
were crow^ded with the triumphs of 
his activities. Possessing an honorable 
reputation, the most desirable person- 
al qualities and excellent executive 
aoilities, he was found generally at the 
head of the best corporations of the 
city and his name coupled in intimate 
commercial relation with the leading ^ 
citizens throughout the land. ^ 

In 1800 we find him associated with 
A. J. Dallas, Robert Patterson and oth- 
ers in organizing the Penna. Improve- 
ment Company, whose object was the 
development of inland communication 
and banking. Later we note that he 
w^as connected with Dr. Mease, Rob- 
ert Ralston, Robert Wain and Samuel 
Hazard in founding a savings bank 
under the corporate title of The Penna. 
Society for the Promotion of Economy. 
His experience with military affairs 
during the Revolution brought him 
the chairmanship of the Commission 
for the Defense of Philadelphia, when 
the peril of a British raid seemed im- 
minent after the fall of Washington 
in 1814. 

His name is found among the Lot- 
tery Commissioners appointed by the 
Governor when lotteries were a popu- 



12 



lar financial undertaking. Thomas M. 
Willing, Stephen Girard, Cad. Evans, 
Jr., William Jones and Thomas Lei- 
per were appointed a commission by 
President Madison to superintend the 
subscriptions to the capital of the 
Ijnited States Bank, in 1816. He is 
found in Independence Hall, in 1817, 
with such men as Jared Ingersoll, Hor- 
ace Binney, P. S. DuPonceau, Thomas 
Walsh and William Rawle, protesting 
against the practice and extension of 
human slavery. 

Pie was a leader in the first attempt 
to organize the manufacturers of Phil- 
adelphia into a society for the better 
protection of their interests. Among 
the Presidential Electors on the Jack- 
son ticket of 1823 we find his name, as 
we do lateh in connection with Jack- 
son Day celebrations, as a presiding 
genius. 

His death occurred in Philadelphia, 
in July, 1825. The Aurora thus eulo- 
gizes him: "For simpleness of heart, 
integrity of person and conduct, de- 
votion to the cause of liberty and of 
his country, he was unsurpassed. He 
was an ornament to the city of Phil- 
adelphia, the pride of Pennsylvania, 
and advantageously and honorably 
known to the whole American nation." 



When Thomas Leiper came into pos- 
session of his large Delaware County 
estate there were some stone quarries 
upon the tracts lying along Crum and 
Ridley Creeks. These quarries had 
been operated for many years and their 
product attained an excellent reputa- 
tion for superior quality. 

The rapid rise and solid growth of 
Philadelphia kept the demand for good 
building stone constantly on the in- 
crease until the prompt delivery of the 
orders became a matter of serious con- 
sideration. The solution of the ques- 



tion, however, was at hand when 
Thomas Leiper conceived the idea of 
building a canal from tidewater of 
Crum Creek to the quarries at Avon- 
dale. 

The plan was to utilize principally 
the creek itself which was in places 
wide, deep, and well adapted for such 
a purpose. The grades were to be ov- 
ercome by a system of locking and 
short water levels. 

In 1780 the matter had been so far 
developed that Thomas Leiper made 
application to the Pennsylvania As- 
sembly for the privilege of carrying 
out his plans, and about the same 
time a representation was also made 
to the Assembly in behalf of the peti- 
tion, by twenty-eight of the principal 
masons and bricklayers of Philadel- 
phia, who claimed "that the stones 
raised from Leiper's quarries are the 
best produced in the neighborhood of 
the city for the purposes of curbstones, 
flags and house-building." 

Notwithstanding the energetic sup- 
port of these men, and his own person- 
al influence, Leiper's petition was op- 
posed. John and Richard Crosby who 
owned and operated a forge near the 
great Southern post road, objected be- 
cause it was feared their mill dam 
would be ruined by the canal. The 
most formidable opposition came from 
the m-embers of the Assembly itself 
who believed that the idea v.'^as chimer- 
ical, visionary, and ruinous; thus the 
Avisdom of the Legislature, great as it 
was, proved unequal to the emergency 
and so the bill failed. 

Thomas Leiper out of these difiicul- 
ties evolved another expedient which 
he partly describes in a notice appear- 
ing in The American Advertiser, April 
1, 1793, and reading in part, as follows: 

"Card to the public — The subscriber 
having failed in his application to fa- 
cilitate the transportation of stone to 



1 '^ 



this city by opening a canal from the 
quarries on Crura Creek, to the tide- 
water of the River Delaware, has en- 
deavored, notwithstanding, to ensure 
an abundant supply of that article by 
means of an approved and regular land 
carriage, in which waggons capable of 
carrying upwards of 10 tons will be 
constantly employed. 

"He returns thanks for the orders 
he has heretofore received, but regrets 
that, from unavoidable cause, he could 
not preserve a perfect punctuality in 
executing them. He has, however, sur- 
mounted many difficulties by shorten- 
ing and improving the road, as well as 
by enlarging the size of the flats and 
waggons which he employs, so that, 
besides 4000 feet of curbstone now col- 
lected in Philadelphia and at the land- 
ing-place on Crum Creek, he expects 
in the course of the ensuing season to 
cut double the quantity that was used 
in the city during the last year. He is 
therefore ready to contract for the de- 
livery of any quantity of curbstone, 
building or foundation stone, flags for 
pavements, and Weaver's freestone in 
the rough, at any place or port in the 
United States. 

"The subscriber, meaning at some fu- 
ture time, as well as for the public ben- 
efit, as for the advancement of his own 
interests, to renew his application to 
the General Assembly, is preparing for 
the perusal and information of his fel- 
low citizens, a statement of the pro- 
ceeding and arguments respecting the 
proposed canal on Crum Creek, from 
which, he trusts, it will appear to a 
very disinterested and candid mind, 
that similar plans have received 
the sanction of the Legislature; that 
his proposition combined public good 
with private interests, and that use 
and value of the property of his neigh- 
bors so far from being injured, would 



be materially improved and appreciat- 
ed by the success of his design." 

As an advertisement writer Thomas 
Leiper seems to have been a success, as 
subsequent events will show. 

It is probable that the "land car- 
riage," described here, is the first men- 
tion made of a practical attempt in the 
use of tramways — for such we may as- 
sume it was, and destined soon to rev- 
olutionize modes of travel and inaug- 
urate the magnificent system of rail- 
ways which to-day encircles the globe. 

In 1797, Thoma,s Leiper advertises 
that he "will enter into a contract for 
the whole of the curbstone that may 
be wanted this year for the supply of 
the city and districts, at 3 pence per 
foot lower than such stone can be fur- 
nished by any other person. It will be 
warranted the best that ever came to 
Philadelphia," and cites from a certif- 
icate issued by Mr. William Covert and 
other City Commissioners, dated 
DecemDer 31, 1791, that "in their opin- 
ion the curb and gutter stone from 
Thomas Leiper's quarries, exceed in 
goodness any other that yet have been 
made use of for the city pavements." 

The epoch approaching 1809 was 
probably a period of success in the 
methods hitherto adopted. It is evi- 
dent that Thomas Leiper's fertile mind 
had been again at work for he had, at 
this time, elaborated a more extensive 
plan for connecting his quarries with 
the river commerce, and at this date 
had secured John Thomson, whose 
son, J, Edgar Thomson, afterward be- 
came president of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, to make surveys, draughts 
and estimate for a line of railway to 
run across the steep grades of the di- 
vide, which separates the Crum from 
Ridley Creek, and at a point below 
Avondale on the former and Pierce 
Crosby's mills on the latter stream. 

A Scotch mechanic named Somer- 



14 



ville, who had probably seen such de- 
vices in England or Scotland, where 
the idea was first demonstrated, built 
for Thomas Leiper an experimental 
track under Leiper's supervision, in 
the courtyard of the Bull's Head Tav- 
ern, by Poplar Lane in the Northern 
Liberties. The track was 60 yards 
long, graded 1% inches to the yard, 
four feet gauge and the sleepers laid 8 
feet apart. Up this incline a single 
horse drew a loaded car, weighing 10,- 
690 pounds, to the summit, and under 
a disadvantage of having to travel 
through loose earth. This trial, which 
aetermined the success of the venture, 
occurred in September, 1809 and was 
witnessed by a large number of per- 
sons; amiong them were Prof. Robert 
Patterson, of the University of Penn- 
sylvani; Callender Irvine, Superin- 
tendent of the U. S. Naval Stores; John 
Glenn, Mr. Leiper's agent, and others. 
Reading Howell was the engineer in 
charge. 

Thomas Leiper immediately began 
the contruction of what is said to be 
the first railway put to practical use in 
America. Its length was three-fourths 
of a mile and the estimated cost 
,^1592.47. At first the rails used were 
made of oak scantling but they soon 
wore out from the friction of the cast- 
iron flanged car wheels and a stone 
track was substituted, which lasted the 
nineteen years of subsequent service. 
During this period the cars were drawn 
by oxen. 

The writer, in company with an ar- 
tist, recently visited the site of the 
original railroad and was enabled to 
find some hundreds of yards of the old 
cut and embankments on the hill back 
of Carey's Bank. There is but little 
change in the appearance of what is 
left of it since it was abandoned 70 
years ago. The overgrowth of ))riars 
and rubbish had been cut away and 



left the line of the railway perfectly 
clear. The largest part of the roadbed 
was long ago filled in and worked over 
by the enterprising farmers who after- 
ward came into possession of the dis- 
integrated estate. 

Twenty years after its inception it 
was abandoned. In the meantime 
Thomas I^eiper had died and his eldest 
son — G-eorge Grey Leiper revived the 
original project for a canal. Canals 
were then in high favor and were con- 
sidered the most convenient and eco- 
nomical systems of inland travel. 

George G. Leiper, who had been a mem- 
ber of the General Assembly in 1822-23 
succeeded in obtaining in 1828, the cov- 
eted privilege by law, and the long de- 
ferred building of the canal proceed- 
ed as originaly intended by the father. 

William Strickland, one of the lead- 
ing engineers of the time and an en- 
thusiast upon the subject of 'water- 
ways was engaged, and put in charge 
of the operation. Work was begun in 
1528 and the canal finally completed 
and opened for traffic in 1829. A co- 
temporary has preserved a description 
of the ceremonies attending the cele- 
bration of its opening from which we 
take the following extract: 

"At 1 o'clock the ladies were escort- 
ed to the canal boat 'William Strick- 
land,' a beautiful boat 55 feet in length 
and named after that distinquished en- 
gineer. In the stern of the boat was 
stationed a band of music which play- 
ed, during the passage of the boat up 
to the quarries, a distance of nearly 
two miles, some of the most fashion- 
aBle and patriotic airs. Attached to 
txie boat were two handsome, full- 
blooded 'Windflower' colts, neatly 
decorated with covers and trimmed 
with ribbons. At half -past one the 
signal was given and the procession 
moved on in carriages and gigs, and 
gentlemen on horseback accompanied 



15 



the boat as she smoothly glided 
through the unruffled stream to her 
place of destination. The sight as may 
well be imagined was truly grand and 
inspiring. When the 'William Strick- 
land, entered the first lock nomed af- 
ter the venerable proprietor, three 
cheers were given. In a few minutes 
after, she entered the Thomas Leiper 
lock, which, for beauty of stone and 
superior workmanship, is unrivalled 
in the United States. Such is the opin- 
ion of Messrs Strickland and Strurhers 
of Philadelphia and Major Bender. 

"On the Leiper Lock, the Delaware 
County Volunteer Battalion, under the 
command of Lieut. Col. Myers, were 
posted, and as soon as the boat passed 
through it a national salute was fired 
by the Penna. Artillerists accompan- 
ied with musketry. The boat was pre- 
cisely one half-hour from the time she 
left the great Southern road until she 
arrived at the mansion of Hon. George 
G. Leiper. The ladies were then land- 
ed and the boat proceeded on her pas- 
sage up to the quarries without any 
accident having occurred to in^pede 
her progress. 

"The troops were then paraded in 
front of the mansion of Mr. Leiper and 
were addressed by him in a very ap- 
propriate manner. Afterward his 
house was thrown open to those who 
were disposed to refresh themselves 
with his hospitality. There were at 
least 1000 persons present at the cer- 
emonies. Had the weather been fav- 
orable a much greater crowd would 
have been there. In all the bustle in- 
cident to such a parade no serious ac- 
cfdent occurred to mar the pleasures 
or the day." 

The canal, in addition to its speci- 
fied object, served also, as a water- 
power for the mills along its banks, 
and that alone survives to-day. It 
was a mile long and quite narrow. 



Starting from Crum Creek, about a 
hundred yards north of the present 
crossing of the P. W. & B. R. R., a 
snort distance below Leiperville, Rid- 
ley, as it was then called, has since ris- 
en into some prominence by reason of 
its connection with the Leiper indus- 
tries. At the starting point was the 
landing where for 50 years past ves- 
sels had traded in stone with the out- 
si'de world. Here were the first ser- 
ies of locks, also the basin and beyond 
these the boats passed into the creek 
at Crosby's dam and proceeded over 
the long, deep, shady reaches till they 
arrived at "Lapidea," the last locking 
stage. 

At this point — locally called Carey's 
Bank, the locks were about a quarter 
of a mile apart and situated in the 
midst of the most picturesque sur- 
roundings; beside them, was the 
bleachery green of an old mill that 
was once a grist mill during the Revo- 
lution. It was then known as Hugh 
Lloyd's Mills and was converted by the 
Leipers into a woolen factory. In this 
beautiful dell Judge Leiper came to 
live; here he erected his great mansion 
in 1811 and with John P. Crozier oper- 
ated the mill for several years after- 
ward. 

The principal lock was located at the 
foot of Judge Leiper's lawn, where it 
may be seen to-day, as the artist has 
caught the scene, beautiful even in 
its ruin, as an example of the stone- 
dressers' art. The main lock chamber 
is about 100 feet long, 12 feet wide and 
as deep as wide. Its walls are con- 
structed of the choicest blocks of fine 
grained granite that came out of the 
Leiper quarries; some of them meas- 
ured twelve and fourteen feet in length 
and a yard wide, all laid in uniform 
courses a foot in depth. Bach stone 
has a smooth finish and champfered 
on the edges. The locks v/ere named 



16 



respectively "Elizabeth Leiper Lock 
1S28." and "Thomas Leiper Lock 1828." 
The inscriptions were carved deeply in 
six-inch letters in the face of the wall. 
Nothing is left of the old timbers of 
the lockgates, except a chance bit of 
oak clinging to a rusty hinge in the 
ruin. All about them is the deserted 
village of Carey's Bank with the 
tumbling mansion of Judge Leiper at 
the head of it. 

The course of the canal ran along 
and formed a boundary to Judge Leip- 
er's lawn passing near his door so that 
all the traffic over its waters was vis- 
ible to the master's eye. Above the 
lawn the boats passed into the dam at 
Blackbird Island— an islet which the 
Judge had converted into a boAvery 
spot for the resort of his household 
and from thence over the last long 
reach, past the several quarries to the 
end of the journey at Avondale. 

During tv/enty-two years of unin- 
terrupted activity most of the great 
mass of stone which forms the break- 
water at Lewes, Del., which helped to 
bulwark the^chuylkill at Fairmount 
and rear the Blockley Hospital and 
numerous buildings in Philadelphia 
and elsewhere passed down the histor- 
ic watercourse to the river, before the 
career of the canal closed. 

A second railway, built in 1852, sup- 
erseded the canal. It was a narrow- 
guage affair and followed the route of 
the canal. It was for many years op- 
erated, as the writer well remembers, 
by a long file of gray horses, which 
at regular intervals twice a day passed 
down the grade with their train of 
heavily laden flats, to the landing 
where schooners received the freight 
to carry it, as Leiper advertised in 
1793, "to any place or port in the Uni- 
ted States." 

When the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road completed their line through this 



section of the county in 1887, the Leip- 
er railway became a tributary freight 
branch. The steam cars thundered 
through that beautiful little village; 
they run into the very heart of Strath- 
avon and thus have destroyed forever, 
the charm of its repose and the do- 
mesticity of its ancient industries; but 
the effort of Thomas Leiper and his 
private enterprise have attained an 
end far beyond the most extravagant 
expectation of the founder. 

If anything is needed to show how 
heredity reflects the excellencies as 
well as other traits of character upon 
succeeding generations — one needs but 
to glance over the brief but interesting 
genealogy of this remarkable man. He 
gave to his posterity not only the vir- 
tues which were the adornment of his 
long and useful life, but also, the strong 
m.artial qualities which he inherited 
from ancestors who may have fought 
on Flodden Field. 

Several of his descendants have won 
distinction on the battle field of the 
Republic and others have gained emi- 
nence in the victorious courts of 
Peace. 

Sometime toward the beginning of 
the Revolution Thomas Leiper mar- 
ried Elizabeth Coultas Grey, the eld- 
est daughter of Hon. George Grey, of 
Grey's Ferry, whose wife, (nee Martha 
Ibbetson of Whiteby Hall), rendered 
such humane and devoted service to 
the wounded soldiers in Philadelphia, 
while that city was occupied by the 
British, as to call forth high commen- 
dation from both British and Ameri- 
can officers. 

Thomas Leiper had several children. 
Elizabeth, the oldest, married Robert 
Taylor who were the parents of Dr. 
George S., James L., Samuel L., and 
Thomas L. Taylor. Martha married 
the well-known Presbyterian minister, 
Rev. Jacob J. Janeway. Helen Ham- 



Style ■> 






17 



illon Leiper became the wife of Dr. 
Robert Maskel Patterson, (son of Prof. 
Patterson), who was appointed by 
President Jackson in 1805, Director of 
the U. S. Mint. Ann G. married 
George G. Thomas. Jane D. married 
Hon. John K. Kane, Judge of the Ad- 
miralty and U. S. Court for the East- 
ern District of Penna. They had five 
sons: Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, Surgeon 
U. S. Navy and the famous explorer 
who lost his life in the polar region 
while in search of Sir John Franklin's 
party. General Thomas L. Kane — 
sometime Colonel of the 42d Penna. 
( Bucktails") Vols.; Robert P. Kane 
of the Philadelphia Bar and John K. 
Kane of Wilmington,- Delaware. Julia 
Leiper became the wife of Colonel 
Plenry Taylor, of Virginia; George 
Grey Leiper married Eliza S. Thomas. 
George was a leading textile manufac- 
turer as well as a quarry operator on 
Crum and Ridley Creeks. He was 
Captain of the Delaware County Fenc- 
ibles in the War of 1812; a member of 
i-e Penna. General Assembly 1822-23; 
Congressman in 1848-49 and was after- 
ward appointed an associate Judge of 



the Delaware County Courts. John C, 
his son, married Mary, the daughter 
of Captain Peter Fassoux whose wife 
was Rebecca the daughter of General 
William Irvine, Colonel of the Penna. 
Line in the Revolution and later a 
Brigadier and Commisary General U. 
S. A. Samuel M. Leiper was married 
to Mary B. Lewis and their son, Thom- 
as I. Leiper, became a Colonel in the 
war of the Rebellion. He was also at- 
tached to the staff of his cousin. Gen. 
Thomas L. Kane. James Leiper mar- 
ried Ann, the daughter of Pierce Cros- 
by, a prominent manufacturer of Up- 
land, Pa. William J. Leiper died un- 
married. 

Gen Chas. I. Leiper, recently de- 
ceased, also belonged to this family 
of Leipers. In the Rebellion he was 
Colonel of the 17th Penna. Regiment, 
(Rush's Lancers). Such is a partial 
array of the military talent of a family 
who trace their descent from the fam- 
ous trooper of 1774. 

Several of the younger generation 
have already served in the Cuban 
Campaign and others are at the front 
in the Philippines. 



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